Neighbors Chickens

West Virginia

Okay first off I would like to say I live in a nice neighborhood. Many people around, and certainly no farms, or anything like that are near. My neighbor seems to think he owns a farm or something. First off he has chickens/roosters/hens. These things disturb myself and everyone in the house. Why? They crow all day & night long. Ever watched a film where they only crow at the crack of dawn? Not these things. Its very hard to sleep around here with their constant crowing. Lets get into this thing. First off my neighbor tried to claim that he owned more land than he really did. We had it surveyed. There are lines and stuff all around displaying the property line. He had a pig he let run loose. Why this guy even owns animals like this I will never know. I think he likes to imagine hes living on a farm. To each his own, I guess. Heres where the problem is. The pig came on our property all the time. Messed up our yard, hit our house a couple times ramming some sort of bucket into it. We called the law a couple times about the pig constantly coming over, and our neighbor finally pinned it up. Now heres the big problem. Those darn chickens. We've called the law MANY times. They've showed up 2-3 times telling him to keep his chickens pinned up. He disregards everything they tell him. They're running around in my yard right now. They have torn our yard up. Our back yard is a MESS. There is also chicken feces all over my basketball court. We have pictures which we showed the law when they would come around. Also they walked out onto my court and saw it themselves. These neighbors also have cats. Now I like cats, but these ones are weird. I'm not even joking. They come over here JUST to use the bathroom where we have our flowers and such planted, then they leave.

Yes, we've talked with the neighbor. He won't do anything about this. As I said above we eventually resorted to calling the law, they come talk to him, he doesn't care and just keeps doing what he wants. What can I do about this? The law is lazy and sometimes say they will be around and never show up. You have to constantly call and remind them to come. This has been going on WAY too long (years) and its really getting to me. I can't stand trying to sleep at night and all I hear is crowing. Also the tree they hop up and nest in, is on his property but the limb comes over the property line (the limb they sleep on). They're always over here. Someone please give some advice or what I can do before I lose my mind.

I'm trying to figure out what I can do. This is becoming insane. Our neighbor is mean anyway. I believe he's doing this stuff out of spite.

A chicken can be killed pretty much with impunity. Meat is not animal cruelty.

A chicken is livestock. At worst you have damaged your neighbor by like 10 bucks (value of a chicken). Suppose he sues. Big deal. AND he would be admitting in court that he is illegally keeping livestock...

so either he learns to lock up his chickens or the authorities take his chickens...

A chicken can be killed pretty much with impunity. Meat is not animal cruelty.

A chicken is livestock. At worst you have damaged your neighbor by like 10 bucks (value of a chicken). Suppose he sues. Big deal. AND he would be admitting in court that he is illegally keeping livestock...

so either he learns to lock up his chickens or the authorities take his chickens...

That, at least in terms of WV law (and the law of many states) is a political decision.

The laws of WV specifically exclude poultry and domestic fowl from animal cruelty. Killing a chicken in the typical way is not legal cruelty.

The law treats loose poultry and nuisance livestock. The owner of the poultry could be found liable for the damages , and the poultry can be claimed as abandoned.

Even if those did not apply, at best the poultry owner could hope to no more recover the value of the slaughtered poultry. A typical live adult chicken is worth no more than 10 dollars. As an example a very large heirloom chicken rooster (that happened to be the winner of best of show at the New York State Fair) was being sold for $45.

I didnt see any where in your posting if you have verified with your city/county/ TWP or whom ever has the information as to how the property is zoned and what the zoning rules are ? If the properties zoning rules forbid farm type of animals then get all over elected officials about the lack of enforcement. If your in a semi rural or growing burb or county that still allows farm type animals then there is nothing you can to accept follow what ever laws address so called strays wandering onto other peoples property. Sad to say you might have to live with the cost of fencing in your property to keep them out. LASTLY , if your city /county govt allows it Maybe a pet weasel is the answer HAHAHAHA (just kidding)

I didnt see any where in your posting if you have verified with your city/county/ TWP or whom ever has the information as to how the property is zoned and what the zoning rules are ? If the properties zoning rules forbid farm type of animals then get all over elected officials about the lack of enforcement. If your in a semi rural or growing burb or county that still allows farm type animals then there is nothing you can to accept follow what ever laws address so called strays wandering onto other peoples property. Sad to say you might have to live with the cost of fencing in your property to keep them out. LASTLY , if your city /county govt allows it Maybe a pet weasel is the answer HAHAHAHA (just kidding)

Either way, and especially if, keeping animals is allowed, it is the explicit requirement of the law of WV that owners of livestock, poultry and domestic fowl must keep them contained by a 'legal fence' and are liable for damage caused by escaped animals.

The law specifically describes the circumstances by which ownership of livestock, poultry and domestic fowl can be transfer involuntarily. Stray nuisance stock can be claimed, and even wrongly claimed the owner has no recourse but suit for the value. The value of 1 chicken is very low.

I would consider a chicken who wanders into my front yard as abandoned ... chicken soup ... roasted chicken ... wait ... couldnt' do all the stuff necessary to make it look like the ones that I purchase in store

really - take it to the animal pound - enough of 'em show up and they'll have a 'come to farmer' meeting with your neighbor about how he's being a bit negligent in farm care.

I would consider a chicken who wanders into my front yard as abandoned ... chicken soup ... roasted chicken ... wait ... couldnt' do all the stuff necessary to make it look like the ones that I purchase in store

really - take it to the animal pound - enough of 'em show up and they'll have a 'come to farmer' meeting with your neighbor about how he's being a bit negligent in farm care.

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